Dir: Carol Reed | Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Ernst Deutsch | UK, Thriller 104′
The Third Man starring Joseph Cotton, Trevor Howard and Orson Welles is now considered pure cinema gold. This iconic cult classic, shot partly on location in postwar Vienna and partly in Shepperton Studios, captures a very short moment in time yet has stayed with us and is now celebrating its 75th Anniversary immaculately restored by Studiocanal.
Harry Lime’s speech about the cuckoo clock always seemed to me just sophistry and his remark about people being just dots to him reveals that he’s a sociopath for all of his charm; which necessitated him (SPOILER COMING:) killing the film’s most likeable character to justify his comeuppance (a moment that always comes as a shock to me no matter how many times I see it).
Although it seems starkly realistic, The Third Man is a triumph of artifice, since Welles is only in the film for about ten minutes (he wasn’t actually in Vienna for much longer, which is why you so seldom see his breath in closeups). The sewers in Vienna don’t actually provide the unbroken passage throughout the city the film so vividly suggests and the famous final shot in the cemetery wasn’t shot by Oscar-winning cameraman Robert Krasker, but an uncredited Hans Schneeburger (who did get a credit a few years later for his second unit work on Carol Reed’s The Man Between).
The opening narration by the way (only heard in the British version) is by director Reed himself (who’s fingers are seen coming through the grill at the climax). And two of my favourite moments belong to Bernard Lee: his admiration for the craftsmanship that went into Valli’s forged documents and his reassurance when reading through her love letters, “That’s all right miss, we’re used to it. Like doctors”. @RichardChatten
At a talk on in celebration of the restored film second unit script supervisor Angela Allen, now in her 90s, recalls that Orson remained elusive throughout the shoot, rushing around Europe in a bid to raise money for his other projects, and although he had a certain charisma he kept himself to himself, unlike Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli and Trevor Howard who were popular and professional. She also recalls how, when presented with Wiener schnitzel in one Viennese restaurant, some of the crew claimed: “we’re not gonna eat fish done up as meat”. @MeredithTaylor
NOW CELEBRATING its 75th Anniversary THE THIRD MAN is back in cinemas on 6 September and on 4K this Autumn